In the fourth quarter of 2023, the global smartphone market grew 8 per cent year-on-year to 319.5 million units, further signs of a stabilising recovery.
Shipments for the whole year of 2023 were 1.14 billion units, a decline of 4 per cent from 2022.
Despite challenges in its core market, Apple topped the year for the first time with a 20 per cent market share and 229.2 million shipments.
Samsung is not far behind, shipping 225.4 million units with a 20 per cent market share in a year-round strategy of maintaining profitability.
Xiaomi consolidated its third position and maintained a 13% market share, shipping 146.4 million units.
OPPO and voice transmission ranked fourth and fifth, with a market share of 9 per cent and 8 per cent, respectively.
Sanyam Chaurasia, a senior analyst at Canalys, commented: "the recovery in emerging markets led the market rebound in the second half of the year, narrowing the decline in the global smartphone market.
Latin America, Africa and the Middle East have shown strong momentum of recovery since the third quarter, thanks to the tilt of additional resources and attention from manufacturers and the continuous introduction of mass-market models.
At the same time, under the premise that the overall macroeconomic situation in the Asia-Pacific region has improved, consumer demand also increased significantly at the end of the year.
Both Chuansheng and Xiaomi, benefiting from these mass market rebounds, achieved remarkable year-on-year growth in the fourth quarter.
But mature markets, including Chinese mainland, Europe and North America, are still suffering from weak consumer spending and reduced channel-side investment.
Looking ahead to 2024, emerging markets will continue to be strategic locations for most manufacturers to seek growth. "
